heating oil ??

[JSJAC]

Does heating oil go bad? how long will it last? Most of the oil in my tank is from 2006. I topped my tank off this year and wonder if I should of ran my oil burner till the oil was gone then filled it. Running my wood boiler year round and only use the oil boiler for back up when we are away from home.

 

[CrappieKeith]

you could put stabill in the tank ,but oil holds up pretty well for many years...don't sweat it.

 

[Highbeam]

Home heating oil is really just diesel fuel so the methods for preserving it are the same. Folks with diesel storage tanks have three issues: water, rust junk from the tank itself, and algae. The algae is the big one and is something that grows in diesel fuel and will plug up filters and injectors. There is a algaecide available to kill this. Most oil tanks that I've seen have a means to drain the tank from the bottom, this is so that the water which accumulates on the bottom can be let out along with any sludge or scale.

Look at diesel fuel preservation products for use in HHO.

The fuel itself will not go bad and is much more shelf stable than gasoline.

 

[RowCropRenegade]

Highbeam isn't kidding about the algae. Looks like little black grains when it settles into a filter. If it's present in your tank it won't take long to plug up everything! Treat it, circulate it, change your filters.

 

[Arlo]

paid $1.98 cod last week here in lower bucks pa. JC Fuel.

 

[mnkywrnch]

This is what I use http://www.tank-guard.com/ plus some diesel addative and running the furnace once a month, works well for me.

 

[SolarAndWood]

This is better to do preventatively. I have tried to treat the tank in my father in laws excavator to no avail. That was after completely draining the tank and filling fresh with all the treatments and conditioners. NAPA loves how many filters I have purchased in the last 6 mos. This weekend, 60 gallons of diesel are being drained so that I can remove the tank and have it cleaned. It sat for about 15 years before we got it running this past fall. The first time I drained it, I didn't believe it was diesel.

 

[Delta-T]

Algae?? Man, I learn something new every day on here. Simply amazing and a bit ironic if you think that the Algae is likely taking the fuel and converting it back to cellulosic fiber and oxygen, back from whence it came. I wonder what the algae uses to power itself seeing as there isn't so much sunlight in the fuel tanks.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I'll send you a 60 gallon sample if you like It is amazing, if I have the excavator and any kind of throttle, the filter is plugged in a matter of minutes with it.

 

[Highbeam]

The algae is black in color and does not need sunlight to grow so it must get energy from the fuel somehow. Once the tank has had algae then any fuel put into it will become contaminated with new algae much more quickly than a new system that has never had the problem. Meaning, if you've got the algae then you had better always keep algaecide in it or you'll be in trouble. Hard to clean just the tank though since on a diesel engine there is always a return line circulating unused fuel back to the engine and the whole system can have the beginnings of algae.

My local NAPA does not have the algaecide. It's more of a truck stop item or a heating oil item. I would always add it with an oil delivery if I had HHO.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Once the tank has had algae then any fuel put into it will become contaminated with new algae much more quickly than a new system that has never had the problem. Hard to clean just the tank though since on a diesel engine there is always a return line circulating unused fuel back to the engine and the whole system can have the beginnings of algae.

That is an understatement. I found out about the return line when I tried running out of 5 gallon jugs and the tank ran over the top. I gave up trying to fix it with the cleaners and am removing the tank and every other piece of the fuels system I can to clean it. Definitely not looking forward to that job.

 

[fbelec]

on a home oil burner a easy way to tell that the new filter you put in is cloged from algae is the burner starts and runs about a minute then if you listen carefully you hear the motor running and the fire goes out then 1 second later it lights then goes out and then lights again and it will keep this up untill the safety finally shuts the thing down. then you change the filter and have a sludgy mess instead of string.

been there done that.